Declassified FBI Emails Show Lack of Probable Cause Weeks Before Joe Biden's Mar-a-Lago Raid on Donald Trump

Declassified FBI emails revealed that agents questioned whether there was enough probable cause to search President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate weeks before the August 2022 raid.

The documents, released by Trump on Monday, October 5, showed disagreements between the FBI's Washington Field Office (WFO) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) over how to handle the investigation.

Fox News Digital reported on internal emails in December 2025 that detailed disagreements over how the FBI investigation should proceed.

The White House criticized the Joe Biden administration over the newly released records.

"Spying on political opponents is weaponization of law enforcement, plain and simple," the White House said Tuesday, October 6.

"This is further proof the Biden administration weaponized the DOJ to target political opponents. Those responsible must be held accountable," the statement added.

Internal emails from June 1 and 2, 2022, showed the FBI exploring an alternative to the planned search.

"Even as we continue down the path towards a search warrant, WFO believes that a reasonable conversation with the former President's attorney, [REDACTED], ought not to be discounted," the email said.

"At a minimum, even if the former President's attorney is correct and that the documents were all declassified (or believed to be declassified), it can be reasonably argued that the documents remain sensitive and should be properly secured until the matter of classification is sorted out," the email continued.

"This conversation could easily be accomplished at the same time that WFO presses forward with the investigation and continues building out the search warrant," the email added.

The emails indicated Trump's legal team would probably contend that the president possesses complete power to declassify documents.

The DOJ had not provided a list of potential charges to the FBI.

In a July 13, 2022 email, an assistant special agent in charge of the WFO outlined the office's position on the warrant.

"WFO does not believe (and has articulated to DOJ CES), that we have established probable cause for the search warrant at Mar a Lago. DOJ has opined that they do, requesting the a wide scope including residence, office, storage space," that email said.

The agent also questioned whether the focus on obtaining a search warrant was helping the effort to recover the records.

"Finally, if the goal is to identify and recover classified records quickly, so as to protect the information, the 5 weeks spent fixated on probable cause for a search warrant have been counterproductive," the email said.

The WFO suggested returning to Trump's attorney and speaking with additional witnesses instead.

"A reasonable step would be to recontact the attorney and inquire about any further documents. WFO has made numerous suggestions to DOJ over the course of this investigation that the most expedient way to ensure recovery of all classified documents would be to go through [REDACTED]. DOJ has persistently disagreed," the WFO said.

The newly released records also detailed other FBI activity involving people in Trump's circle.

According to the documents, the FBI tapped the phone of now-White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and tracked the movements of Melania and Barron.

The Mar-a-Lago search later became a major part of the federal investigation into Trump's handling of classified documents.

Special Counsel Jack Smith charged Trump with 37 felonies, including allegations involving the willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and false statements.

Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges. A superseding indictment later added three alleged crimes, including another count of willful retention of national defense information and two obstruction counts.

After Trump won the 2024 presidential election, Smith dropped the federal case against him.